This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by
Amy Johnson Crow.
Topic Info:
It's back to school time here in the U.S. Many school districts in my area have been back for 2 or 3 weeks already! This week's theme is "School Days." Have you used school records or yearbooks to find out more about your ancestors? Do you have photos or memorabilia from their time in school? How about any teachers or school staff in the family tree. Write about it this week!
I have used the yearbooks to find pictures more than anything of my ancestors, not that I've always found them. Or if they were in pictures of classes, and published in the newspapers, you couldn't see them very well.
Yearbooks
Father's side
On my paternal side, it was only my father and uncle who were the first to be in them. They were also the first generations on both mother and father's side of the family in the United States. As my uncle was a teacher for
Marlboro High School, he had quite a few entries for the years he taught, like his wife.
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| Matthew G Schmitz NFA Yearbook entry Credit |
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John S. Schmitz NFA Yearbook entry Credit
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I do know my grandmother was in school in Poland for a bit before the Russians closed them. I believe she was then homeschooled until she emigrated to the US in 1920.
She started elementary school 6 weeks after arriving for a few years. She only knew Polish, Russian and German - no English. She had to stop her schooling when she reached her limit on how much she was able to get in the 1920s. She could read, write, and maths but simple stuff was ok. Anything more and it was a struggle for her I could see.
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| My grandmother's acknowledgement of schooling. Credit: Citizenship and Naturalization Department |
Mother's side
On my maternal side, it gets complicated. My mother never finished school as she stopped at 16 and got married to my father. Her oldest brother left when he was young as well, and I don't believe finished school, but enlisted into the military.
My grandmother, I believe, only finished what she had to and then left to help with her family as she was the second oldest and her father, from what I've been able to gather, wasn't around to help out. I do know some of her siblings did get to finish as much schooling as they could.
On my mother's paternal side, the Gauquie's, my grandfather's generation was both farmers with some education for the males but the females either went into dancing/singing, into nursing, or were stay at home mothers it seems. The previous generations to my great grandfather/great grandmother could read, write, and know numbers and math, but this was about it. This type of education was common until about 1817 where its noted my 5th great grandmother, Francisca Carolina Noppe, could not write. Her husband,Jacobus Josepha Gauquie, was an worker who went into innkeeper employment, must have known how to read, write and knew his numbers and math to keep the business going. I only have a few of the Gauquie cousin's yearbook photos and entries.
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| My mother's cousin Jimmy in his NFA Yearbook entry. Credit |
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| My mother's cousin in her NFA Yearbook entry. Credit |
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| My mother's cousin in her NFA Yearbook entry. Credit |
I could go on forever because my mother has that many cousins!
On my mother's maternal side, her grandfather on the Jagodzinski/Barry side, worked in restaurants and ended up as a chef in a hotel in NYC. He was first generation American. I believe he probably knew enough reading, writing and math to get him through but it was just enough.
On my mother's maternal side, her grandmother on the Ostrzycki side, had various occupations. She immigrated from Poland in the early 1900s when she was very young. I believe she had the basic schooling which was only until about grade 5. They could all read and write according to the census. However, if you go back 2 more generations to 1887, my 2nd great grandmother's wedding certificate says her mother, Rozulu Michalslua, was present but could not write. This was common in Poland at the time.
Current/My Generation
Almost all of us (myself and my siblings) graduated from high school. The only one who didn't was my brother, Charlie, and he went back and got his GED. My mother had all of the graduation pictures, but I don't know what she's done with them before she went into the nursing home.
My oldest sister, Theresa.
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| 1973 in a group picture, my sister Theresa in the yearbook. Credit |
My 2nd oldest sister, Jean, graduated from BOCES Vocational, in hairstyling, where they can cut and color hair, or whatever they call it.
My 3rd oldest sister, Debbie, graduated from BOCES Vocational, in nursing.
I graduated from BOCES Vocational, in Business Computer Technology, where you knew banking, business, and computers all rolled into one. Also, I went on to earn my Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems at Orange County Community College, but haven't been able to find any work in this area; however, I have used different parts of the degree in different areas of my life. My mother was always degrading me for trying to get further and get a better paying job. She did many things to try and get me to no complete things, but until I couldn't afford it, I went as far as I could no matter who stood in my way.
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| 1989 yearbook picture of me. Credit: J. Fitzgerald |
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| 1991 yearbook picture of me. Credit J. Fitzgerald |
My brother did go back to get retrained in Air conditioning when he was injured and I'm not sure if he ever completed it due to the injury and how hurt he was. He never did get his picture in the yearbook at all and I've looked.
Education is important. We've tried to pass this along to my nieces because this is the only way to get ahead in the world. Thankfully, they have taken this advise and plowed on with it - all 3 have a Bachelor's Degree in something. One of my nephew's is in his final semester right now for his Bachelor's Degree.
I couldn't be prouder of the future generation for getting a higher education.
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